Rosmini Centre House Of Prayer

My dear son in Christ,

I received your letter of 31 May, and after reading and re-reading it, I waited, prayed to the Lord and celebrated Mass before replying to it. Only now do I set about giving you an answer. In the whole of your letter there is nothing I find good, unless it is the statement you make at the end that you submit your judgement to that of your Superiors, and your final sentence: ‘You have only to give me a sign of what God wants from me, and I will at once conform to it.’ Well, if you are sincere about this, here is my verdict on all that you say: It is entirely the result of a temptation and miserable deception by the devil who, as usual, transforming himself into an angel of light and inflaming your imagination, wants to bring you to ruin and make you lose the holy vocation that God has given you. That is my impartial opinion after I have invoked God; that is the decision of your legitimate Superior. If you pay heed to what I say, with determination and strenuous efforts you will be able to escape from the snare which has been laid for you. But if you fail to do this, you will make shipwreck of your soul. You would never have become a victim of illusion if you had previously been sincere, if you had opened your heart and all your thoughts to your Superiors (as our holy rules require) and if you had done this right from the start when the devil began to tempt you. Complete and sincere openness and continual manifestation of everything within your soul is the sure way to repel in good time the attacks of the devil which deceive the mind. It is because you failed to do this with proper simplicity that you have fallen into this deplorable confusion. It may well be that it is because (you tell me) you have prayed to our Lady that you have finally obtained the grace to write me the letter in which you reveal your state of mind - even though you (not unnaturally) felt a strong reluctance to do this after keeping silent for so long.

The appearance of evil which you say you see in the Roman clergy is largely the result of your imagination: a mixture of your inexperience and ignorance of other places, and a rash judgement of a whole class of estimable people on the basis of a few things you have seen or heard, without realizing that you are quite incapable of making such a judgement - you a cleric scarcely out of the egg! But the biggest mistake of all is to suppose, through a subtle illusion of pride, that you are the man who is destined to provide a remedy for the defects of the Roman clergy! Heavens, what deplorable blindness there is in that thought! Your Superiors send you there so that you may learn from the holy and learned men there are in Rome, and you at once take scandal, and even dare to entertain the rash notion of being the reformer of the finest clergy in the world! Once pride has infected your heart, it produces abundant fruits and distances you from the truth, under the pretext of attaining some illusory future good; and it especially takes you a long way from the humility of the religious state. So the first fruit of your temerity and of the false idea you have formed of the Roman clergy was that you began to be discontented over remaining in the Institute, when, if you had any humility, you should have been made more attached to it by the sight of the defects of the secular clergy. This would have followed if, distrusting yourself, you had been afraid of coming to grief outside it and in the midst of such dangers. You should further have reflected that if God had wished to make use of you to promote his glory, he is certainly not lacking in ways of making this known to you through your Superiors, and giving you the means of doing so through the helps that they could have provided you with in an Institute which refuses no good work when the will of God is duly made known. But you, on the contrary, judging rashly about the Institute, too, and knowing very little about it, and merely standing on its threshold, have more confidence in yourself, isolated from rather than united with it, and believe that God will do through your means what it seems to you he does not do through the many holy priests in Rome, the many religious, pastors, Cardinals and the Pope himself the supreme Pastor! You rate all these as useless, and form the conclusion that the Roman clergy are a spent force, and that therefore you ‘have a great desire to keep your room in Rome firmly closed’! And the culmination of your blindness and self-deceit is that you say that while you do not have confidence in yourself ‘you feel you are capable of anything if it should please God to use you and give you the necessary help and strength.’ You speak as if God could not give you the strength and make you capable of anything, should it so please him, within the Institute, but only outside it, and as if you could the better hope for this strength from God if you abandoned the religious life of humility and obedience, abandoned the vocation you accepted, and broke the sacred bond of the vow with which you offered yourself to God. The meaning of that vow was that you should have put your hopes in God, remained constant in the good you had undertaken, tried to sanctify yourself in your own vocation, grown daily in self-depreciation, humility, submission to your Superiors, and carried out humble and lowly duties. That was the meaning. But that anyone should hope to do everything in God by losing his vocation, having fantastic dreams about future undertakings, envisaging great enterprises and despising small duties . . all this is unheard of; there is no such thing in the scriptures; no spiritual master has ever taught such things. The spirit of pride that has deceived you, cloaking itself in an appearance of false piety, is evident too in the temptation you have met with - to feel aggrieved at not being sent on for ordination to the priesthood. This is a most foolish and mistaken presumptuousness, clean against the maxims you were taught in your Institute - maxims to which you have so often declared, at least with your lips, you agree with.

If you understood what humility means, you would have gone down on your knees and begged me (as many others have done) not to promote you to the priesthood, or at least to defer this until you had acquired the high virtues proper to that state. But instead of that, instead of genuinely holding views consonant with the spirit of your Institute, you are greatly disgusted because you have not been made a priest before you have completed the second year of your noviciate! In the Institute no one is ever ordained before the end of those two years; and indeed this could not be done, even if we wished to take such a step, in the case of those who would be ordained by title of the common table, as would be the case with you. But despite all this, your self-love is so excessive that in face of the blow you think you have received, you believe that you would so lose face before people if you did not now receive ordination that you make this a new reason to abandon your vocation, on the pretext that you could then go on to do greater things - though you cannot say just what these wonderful things would be! No, there is no spirit of God here: only the spirit of a huge and diabolical pride.

To make things worse, you speak of ‘throwing yourself into the arms of God’s adorable Providence’ - as if in the Institute you were not already in the bosom of Providence, and as if there were no Providence except where your self-esteem would like it to be. What a hideously perverse idea this is! What a clear case of self-deception there is here, when you take to be the spirit of God what in fact is obviously the spirit of the arch-deceiver. My dear son, rouse yourself from the wretched state of mind and heart that you have fallen into. Pray to our Lady, and she will perhaps obtain from her divine Son the grace which will open your eyes and enable you to see the abyss which is open before you. For my part, I tell you, and tell you again in the name of God, you are deceived, and deceived in a most grave way.

Bound as you are by your vow, set your mind on fulfilling its obligations, and repent of having given way to an evil spirit; try to rediscover the spirit of your vocation by deep repentance. I am not going to absolve you from your vow: rather with the authority which is mine I command you in the name of God to do battle against the enemy and to persevere in the path which you have entered on.

For the rest, I will write to Fr Rector what he is to pass on to you, and what I hope you will carry out at once, by the mercy of God and of our Mother Mary, to whom I continually commend your situation. May JESUS and MARY bless you and help you to escape from your present state. Goodbye.

Your father in Christ,

A. ROSMINI p.

My dear brother in Christ,

The letter I enclose is my reply to Saiani. Read it carefully and then give it to him - and see what impression it makes on him. Whatever his reaction is, you must send him to Stresa as soon as possible. He is to go there by himself. Tell him how he is to travel, and give him only the money that he will need for the journey. But do not give him the order to leave until a few moments beforehand, and do not permit any excuse or delay. I leave it to you to decide when to do this, since it will be necessary to find someone to help you there. I hope this will not be impossible. As regards justifying Saiani’s leaving to Barola or others, I rely on your prudence. But this consideration must not change the resolution this letter conveys to you. Meanwhile we must all commend the matter to the Lord. When Saiani is here he will spend a month in retreat - he has not yet made his retreat.

Yours affectionately in Christ,

A.ROSMINI p.

My dear friend,

Since I have a little free time between the exercises of my retreat here, I want to write to you about something which grated on me in the last issue of the Amico Cattolico. I do this because I know well that you are greatly devoted to our Blessed Lady, whom you have not only as your Mother (as we all have) but also as your compatriot{f}. Now, how is it that you have not made any protest over what is written in this magazine: ‘[that] Mary, when she arrived in Bethlehem, was overtaken by the pangs of childbirth ? Does not this sentence offend your ears, cause you much grief? There could hardly be anything else so offensive to pious ears. That our Lady should have suffered pain in giving birth to the Saviour? That the Blessed Virgin, who became the Mother of God, should be subject to the same sufferings as other mothers? Where have you read that the law which was given to Eve, the sinner - you shall bring forth children in pain - was applicable to Mary? Do you not see that this law begins: I will greatly multiply your pain in childbearing, and that it is therefore linked to what I might call that impure cause which multiplies conceptions in other women, a cause which could not affect her who was the spouse of no one but God, by a spiritual union which had nothing fleshly in it? Nor was Mary the mother of any but the only-begotten Son of God, so that her motherhood does not take away her virginity. You must notice also that the same law goes on: you shall be under the power of your husband, and he shall rule over you, and that these words express again the reasons for the multiple conceptions of other women. Now, to what man was Mary subject? For Joseph, who was juridically her husband, venerated her, there can be no doubt, as his Lady, and never thought of her as his subject. So to whom was Mary subject except to him of whom she said: Behold the handmaid of the Lord? So that although Joseph, if you like, could be said to hold on earth the title of head of the house, he did not fulfil this office except as one who considered himself the mere vicar or representative of the heavenly Spouse to whom he most willingly regarded his wife as wholly consecrated.

So far from Blessed Mary having experienced any pain in bringing forth to the world the Sun of Justice, I hold (and I believe you are with me, since I hold on good authority the Virgin to be venerable, as do all those who are devoted to her) - I believe that when the time came when the Redeemer was to be born, she experienced indescribable joy, heavenly delight, and was rapt into an ecstasy of love so sublime that no one could imagine its intensity, and which gave her a taste of the happiness of heaven.

So, no, my dear friend, we must not allow to pass a phrase which fell from the pen of the illustrious writer by mere inadvertence, I feel sure. Yet it still pains Christian ears, and must not be allowed to stand (as I said) without emendation. So I beg you to see that it is corrected, for the consolation of all readers. And I ask this of you out of the love you bear for Mary.

For my part I not only see the scriptures as always speaking of Mary in such a way as to banish any thought of motherly infirmity, but as revealing her motherhood as taking place without the help of any other person; so that as soon as she had brought forth into the world the Child she had carried, she herself , unaided by Joseph, wrapped him in the poor swaddling clothes, and with her own hands laid him in the manger, like one who, far from being sad and ill, was well and full of joy. The words: She brought forth her first-born, wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in the manger (Lc 2, 7) mean that she did all this on her own. Who can doubt that, had she been in need of help, Joseph would have gladly given it? But instead we must think of Joseph as standing silently in a corner of the stable contemplating and adoring the great mystery, without daring to step forward to offer help to his dear Queen who, for her part, grants no mortal man a share in the motherly solicitude to which she alone, as the sole earthly parent of her Son, has the right to express. And to give you further proof of the careful way scripture speaks, always to the honour of our Lady, I should like you to look at another passage (and there are others I could quote). Consult Exodus (chapter 13) where God promulgates the law of the first-born reserved for sacrifice, and prescribes that Every first-born of man among your sons you shall redeem. Notice the phrase: you shall set apart to the Lord all that first open the womb. Now why does the law not simply say ‘all the first-born’? Would not that be clear enough? You may perhaps say that this is just an idiom of oriental languages. But since those languages were chosen by Providence to express the mysteries of the divine revelation, I do not hesitate to say that that phrase in Hebrew was chosen by God not as a matter of chance, but rather because it was most apt to express exactly what God intended, and so limited the law in such a way that it should have force for all mothers until in course of time it made an exception in the case of Mary, the Mother of God. Indeed, what other phrase could have been so fitting for this intention of the divine lawgiver? Without having to name her as being exceptional, the letter of the law already allowed for that exception.

And you will find the same circumspection of speech where we find the law of purification (Lev, 12). It is clear that this law is made only for ordinary mothers, but not for her who, without ever knowing a man, became the Mother of God and remained a virgin. And so when Mary gave birth, this was accompanied not by pain or suffering but by ineffable joy. She was truly what the Song of Songs (4, 12) refers to as a garden locked, a fountain sealed. These words were entered into holy scripture in honour of the pure Spouse of the King of the heavenly Jerusalem, words applied by the Church to Mary, the one through whom the incarnate Word passed as a ray of sunshine passes through pure crystal; as he passed out of the tomb without breaking the seals; as he entered the room where the apostles were ianuis clausis [With the doors closed]. And it was Mary, finally, who perhaps suffered no other pain until that terrible and wholly spiritual pain which transfixed her soul like a sword, when she suffered along with her Son as he hung on the cross, so that the suffering of the Son was mirrored and renewed in the soul of the Mother.

I hope - indeed I am sure - that these observations of mine cannot displease the pious and illustrious author of the article in which he let slip that phrase which to me, and I think to you, is so jarring. And the same applies to the wish I have expressed to you - that it should be emended. What he writes, leaving aside the excellence of his style, and his learning, is full of love for Mary; and I believe that he himself must be pleased to hear of something which he had perhaps not realized but which makes for the honour of the heroic woman whom he graphically describes, painting her in the beautiful colours of his eloquence and devotion. Besides, the fact that he is not a churchman fully excuses an inadvertence that could readily have come from the pen of one of us who are ecclesiastics. So if you do not care to send some note of your own to the directors of that journal, I have not the slightest objection to allowing you - indeed I ask you - to have this letter of mine printed in the next issue. Goodbye.

Your affectionate friend,

A. R.

{fs}Rosmini is referring to the sanctuary of Loreto, the place his friend came from.

My dear brother in Christ - the grace and love of Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.

You cannot imagine what great pain I felt at the news of your ill health. My first thought was that I must go there to you, embrace you in the Lord, stay with you a little while, and leave the next day. But when I looked in to the practicalities of this plan, all sort of difficulties came before my mind. So for the moment I fear it is impossible for me to satisfy my urgent wish. In the meanwhile we intend to make a novena in which we will beg of God the grace of your return to health, if this is for his glory, invoking the intercession of Canon Del Bufalo{f}. We will all do this, and I will get the Sisters to do likewise. You must join with us; and so that you can do this, I will postpone the beginning of the devout exercise until next Thursday, 8 August, by which time I hope you will have received this. Perhaps the Lord will be pleased to manifest the holiness of his servant by granting a quick cure. In any event, we shall not cease to sing of his mercies: I will sing of the mercies of the Lord for evermore. I have already sent news of your state to your brother, Don Francesco; and other devout people will be able to make the same devotion there.

May God grant you patience, my dear brother! You will find it in abundance in the heart of our Saviour - laid open not by the knife of the surgeon, but by the lance of love. With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. For the love which Jesus Christ has for us, and the love we have for him, are the two sources of the consolation you will find on your bed of pain. Love, trust, abandonment to our crucified Saviour - trust too in the gracious kindness of our dear Mother Mary - let these be your delights, your weapons, your strength. Bind yourself to Christ’s cross and hope greatly in him: he will not abandon you, and with a word will put all things right.

I embrace you lovingly, and all those here with me embrace you in the heart of Jesus, too. We beg him to bless you, for the love he bears for his Mother. Goodbye.

Your affectionate brother in Christ,

ROSMINI p.

{fs}Gasparo Del Bufalo was the founder of the Congregation of Missionaries of the Precious Blood, and had been beatified by Pope Pius X.

My dear daughter in Christ,

The defects of Suor Bertoletti are not sufficient grounds for dismissing her. If you consider the matter well, you will see that they are the product of a sensitive and timorous conscience. And when a Sister shows she has great fear of God and a delicate conscience, these things must be respected, and her defects must be accepted calmly, while we make every effort, with charity and patience, to help her, comfort her, and strengthen her so that she may amend. Nothing is more greatly to be esteemed and loved than the purity of a soul who fears to offend the Lord; since in the end the greatest treasure the Sisters of Providence can have is the grace of God and holiness.

I have spoken to Suor Maddalena, and she told me that when Suor Bertoletti was at Stresa she did very well ; and it seems to her that it might have been well to keep Suor Bertoletti at Stresa not only as the doorkeeper but also as a helper for the Sister who looks after the noviciate. In short, then, keep her, sympathize with her, and try to deal patiently with her when she is at fault in any way.

May Jesus and Mary bless you .

Your father in Christ,

A. ROSMINI p.

My dear brother in Christ,

I am adding a few lines to tell you that your letter was most welcome, and that it seems to me that we have been waiting ages to see a noviciate properly set up there. I never cease to recommend to our brethren that they should esteem their own perfection and the practising of the gospel virtues as the greatest possible good; for this is both the foundation and the one great end of the Institute. Do all you can to attain this perfection yourself and to impress on the minds of all our brethren the same aim. Each should speak of these things to his companions, since we are (as our Rule says) only poor disciples of Christ who must help, exhort and encourage one another to personal perfection.

As for promoting the work of the noviciate and the college, act in concert with the other man charged with this task{f}, Don Peter Hutton - whom I greet warmly in the Lord, along with the other brethren. In all you do, be energetic and zealous, though always prudent.

Here our good Signini has profited quite a lot, especially in experience. If you can manage, without upsetting people, to move our men from Oscott to the noviciate, I should very much like Belisy to come back to Italy, at least for a year. May our Lady assumed into heaven console, strengthen and guide you. Goodbye. Pray for my needs.

Your affectionate brother in Christ,

A. ROSMINI p.

{fs}Gentili had been nominated, along with Hutton, to see to the foundation of a house for use as a noviciate for the brethren and also a college for the education of boys. This was being built near Ratcliffe, not far from the railway station in Sileby. After considerable difficulties, the project was completed and the house opened on 21 November 1844.

My dear daughter,

Your first letter saddened me, but the second brought consolation. Is it really possible that you allow yourself to be ruled by your imagination? Are you not capable of remaining firm in your resolution to serve God, to live and die for love of him, as your holy vocation demands? Do you let your perseverance in religious life depend on whether or not your companions show love for you? Are you in a religious house, are you a consecrated Sister for the sake of being loved by those you are with rather than to love and serve Jesus Christ? What mistaken and distorted ideas these are! Moreover, to let yourself believe that you are not loved or esteemed by others, and to be persuaded of this as easily as you do because of every trifle - this is surely a sign of an excessively touchy self-love! Yet virtue, and particularly profession as a religious, consists in putting away all self-love, and hence being always content with everything (especially with being corrected); in carrying out your duties simply and with equanimity; in putting up, for love of the Spouse of your soul, with the vexations that others cause you, without yourself vexing anyone. For goodness’ sake, make these dispositions your own, and learn to think in a way that is solidly based on humility, patience and perseverance. Otherwise you will not only be a burden to others, but to yourself as well. So bring about a change in yourself; let us thank God and our Lady for it, and hope that it will be lasting. Pray for me -

Your father in Christ,

A. R.

Reverend and dear Father,

In order to answer briefly your various questions I give below my replies.

Q. - Which author do I regard as the best when it is a matter of giving a retreat?

A. - St Ignatius. I am sending you his Manual of the Retreat-giver, which is to be found in the book called Ascetics

Q. - Is it well to make a retreat once a year or more often?

A. - In the ordinary way, only once a year. But if it is a matter of a brief, simple withdrawal from ordinary affairs for a few days, it is very helpful to do this a number of times.

Q. What particular rule would you suggest to me for preserving chastity among young people?

A. The rules put forward by the masters of the spiritual life are excellent, and there are no others that I would especially recommend. But I believe that it helps greatly towards this aim if emphasis is put on instilling in the young a way of thinking that is lofty, noble, spiritual and generous, as well as on purity of intention in all that they do, and on making good use of time.

Q. Is it better to be gentle or severe in directing young people?

A. The normal thing should be a gentle and reasonable way of governing them, joined with firmness. But in exceptional cases a certain rigour is the only treatment to use.

Q. When it comes to ruling religious communities, what is the best way of acting when certain individuals have little inclination to piety, obedience and the observance of the rules?

A. The course of action needed in such circumstances is: (1) to convince the religious that the Superior acts only out of love for their good, without any bias or ulterior motive, and with great humility; (2) to enlighten those governed, assiduously inculcating the truths of the gospel, and giving a good example; (3) as Superior, showing a sure and mature judgement, speaking only of things that are true and well founded, never interpreting amiss the facts, much less intentions etc., since it is better to give few corrections over matters for which no excuse can be offered than frequent corrections in cases where the one accused may be able to find plausible excuses; (4) the Superior must be firm over maintaining discipline, but never show irritation; and where discipline has in fact become slack, he must begin by being unbending over essential points, and gradually become stricter as regards lesser matters; (5) he must always be consistent, having only one aim in all that he does, never contradicting himself, not being stern one day and easy-going the next; (6) he must be very watchful and aware of everything, though not appearing curious; he must keep an eye on all that his subjects do, not exposing them to temptations beyond their strength, and protecting them from the danger of dissipation of spirit; (7) the Superiors at various levels must be in harmony over their manner of governing, showing unity of spirit, and they must support one another’s authority, always acting justly; (8) they must show shrewdness in their knowledge of men and of different temperaments, correcting anything that is out of order as soon as it manifests itself; this means that they have to take notice of small things when these can lead to greater problems; (9) in addition to these ordinary rules of government, they may sometimes find it necessary to give someone a jolt: a retreat made with the full vigour of the rules of St Ignatius and given by a holy man who is gifted with the discernment of spirits can renew the mind and heart of a religious who has become slack.

Q. How should the Superior act so as to maintain a good spirit in those he governs?

A. Valuable helps are the practice of the presence of God, assiduous prayer, purity of intention at all times, being constantly occupied in works of charity - all these things are sure means of maintaining and increasing the spirit.

My dear Father, do pray - not as for the distinguished man you believe me to be, but rather for the wretched sinner who wrote all these things only with the intention of obeying your request. It is he who, with reverence and religious affection, signs himself -

Your humble servant,

A. R. p.

. . . In accordance with your advice, I have sent our good Don Pagani to Rome, so that he may support and help Don Setti. If God restores his health, that will be a great blessing{f}. As for the dilata of the Congregation: leaving aside any other consideration, I find this perfectly reasonable, since you did not receive enough information to be able to form a well-founded judgement about the plan{f}. For the rest, I hope that (as you suggest) there will be a favourable outcome. But I am always resigned to and content over whatever the Lord will show to be his will by means of the decision of the Sacred Congregation. I know very well that, as you truly say, enemies are not lacking; but I look even on enemies as means which divine Providence uses for its own loving ends - that is, for our good and the greater glory of God. I experience this every day, and I bless God for it without ceasing. Deep in my heart I always take great pleasure when I receive blame, and I have a great dislike of praise. This too is a grace given to me by God, and no virtue of mine. Rather, I am firmly persuaded that I am better helped by facing opposition than by a favourable wind.

Pray for me to the Lord, in whom I have the honour of being -

Your humble and obedient servant and friend,

A. ROSMINI p.

{fs}In March 1844 Rosmini had sent Don Setti to Rome to deal with the affair of the medical college planned and founded by Prince Aremberg. But when Setti became very ill, Rosmini sent Don Pagani to help him in the matter.{fs}See the following letter and the Vita di A. R., vol. II, pp. 302 et seq.

My dear brother in Christ,

If we foresee problems over setting up the College of St Raphael, we have to trust all the more in God, and take courage. We must never allow an important work that the Lord has put in our hands to fail out of faint-heartedness or discouragement. Rather we have to use all our energies and activity to bring it to a successful ending; because only in this case, should the work fall through, can we be sure that this is a kindly action of the divine mercy. Whereas if the failure were the result of our own ineptitude, this would be to our detriment. For myself, I have seen so many indications of a special Providence in what has happened in connection with this plan that I have not the slightest doubt that it will have a happy outcome. Even the way the Sacred Congregation raised the question is a favourable sign. The doubts the Cardinals feel arise because they have not a clear idea of the work - that is, from not having read the Statutes. But I hope that by now they will have received these by post, together with my letter in reply to that of Cardinal Ostini. I want these documents to be presented in good time so that they may be printed and studied by the Cardinals; and I urge that the matter may not be delayed even for a day through our fault. After that, the Lord will act according to his good pleasure, and we shall be thoroughly content.

I was surprised to read your proposal of making Don Luigi [Gentili] Vice-Provincial in your place. Do you not recall the many discussions we had over this? There is some deception of the devil here. As I have often noticed, you are inclined to give in to discouragement, to a fear which robs you of the power to act, and even of the ability to think clearly. My dear brother, you must resolve to oppose the feelings of fear that arise in you and which do you much harm. So too you exaggerate about the state of your health - something quite usual in cases of nervous disorder. No: your health is not such as to make it impossible for you to continue in your office, provided that you raise your spirits by consoling thoughts (not painting everything in black), and place great hope in the help - which will not be lacking - of Jesus Christ. This is something you must believe blindly, putting much trust in obedience; and see to it also that you are not cast down by these views of mine. The saints, who suffered much more ill-health than you, did great things, not through their own strength, but because they were strong in faith and hope. So you are to remain Vice-Provincial, and you must govern without anxiety, without useless fears about future events. When you return to England you will have a helper at hand. All the houses are to have their own local Superior, according to the decree I sent recently; and you have to (1) keep in touch with each local Superior; and (2) make sure that each acts only within his own proper sphere. Things to do with the Institute as a whole, you and I will decide jointly. It does not matter if this consultation causes some delay. What does matter is that there should be no confusion over the powers that the various individuals have; that no one usurps an authority that he does not possess; and that no one goes beyond the matters entrusted to him. The Bishops should not communicate with the Rectors except over their individual missions and the affairs of their houses. Should the Bishops write about other matters, the Rectors will make it clear that these are matters for the Provincial and the General, to whom they are requested to address themselves.

Affectionate greetings to yourself and our dear brother, Don Giuseppe Roberto. Goodbye.

Your brother in Christ,

ROSMINI p.

My dear brother in Christ,

When Mgr Wiseman came to Stresa in the course of his recent visit to Italy, he asked me for some masters for the little college of Oscott. I replied that I could not oblige him over this unless the Superior there were a member of the Institute. He then told me that Mr Morgan wanted to join the Institute. [Presumably he was the Superior of the College]. In that case, and only in that case, I assigned to him the three of our members who were up to then at the College of Old Oscott. But now, since the condition has not been met, we have not taken on any obligation. We spoke sincerely and clearly prior to this, so no one can complain if the Institute withdraws its members from there. They were only there on loan depending on an unverified condition. Our maxim: not to have our members serving in houses where the Superiors do not belong to the Institute is an entirely prudent one, in accordance with our Constitutions. I am determined to observe it constantly, allowing for the occasional exceptions that occur in all prudential rules. You are already aware that for work of this kind the Institute proposes to form a separate class of members called external coadjutors. But so far this has not been possible. In the second place, while it is true that one of our most valued maxims is perseverance in works we have undertaken, this has to be applied only to works that have been begun according to our rules (which was not the case at Old Oscott, where the Superior is not one of ours), and especially it does not apply to those works that are an obstacle to something which is necessary for our existence, such as a good noviciate house. A noviciate is truly everything for the Institute: it is from this that it draws life and growth. So the Oscott work must be sacrificed for the sake of the noviciate, since I see the need for our masters, Lorrain and Cavalli, to go to staff the little college which we have to open at Sileby - something which is necessary for our life. So you are to come to Italy for a while, to Stresa - from where Signini will be sent back to England. Tell Don Luigi about this arrangement; and sort out with him and with some other wise brother the most prudent and inoffensive way of quitting Oscott. I do not say this must be done immediately, but in tempore opportuno [at a convenient moment]. And it must be done so as not to give any reasonable cause for complaint, either by the action itself or by the way the matter is handled. You can rightly refer to the precise understanding which there was between me and Mgr Wiseman in Stresa when the matter of Oscott was concluded. The Monsignor will, I am sure, recall this, because I spoke very clearly and without ambiguity.

For the rest, my dear Emilio, do you marvel that Superiors may change even a prudential decision? Is it not clear that a change is called for when new and better reasons manifest themselves? So I do not know why in your letter of 14 September you struggle to show that Fr Vice-Provincial has contradicted himself, because he first thought of keeping Oscott and later decided to abandon the work. If the state of his health was, as you say, insufficient to make him come to this decision, you must see that there were plenty of other reasons. But I repeat that I hope this decision (which I also regret) can be carried out in a gentle and considerate way, but at the same time without needless apprehension.

Warm greetings to you - and I look forward to embracing you in Italy as soon as God pleases. May the Lord fill you with himself.

Yours in Christ,

A. ROSMINI p.

Very Reverend Father,

You ask me what I mean when I say that ‘subjects should not be exposed to temptation’, and so I will briefly explain this. The subjects have physical, intellectual and moral powers. Temptations do not arise in them when their physical or intellectual strength is too heavily taxed, but only when this happens to their moral strength. Let us suppose that a man is holy. If his Superior, through lack of discretion, gives him something to do which is beyond his physical or intellectual strength, he will not be greatly upset over this, nor will he feel ill-will towards his Superior; nor will he be tempted against obedience or his vocation. Instead he will sacrifice himself for the love of God. But if he is not holy, that is, if his moral strength is feeble, then if a great burden is put on him, or even a light one which is contrary to his inclinations and to his personal way of thinking, this can cause great disturbance of mind and provoke him to disobey, or to obey with ill-will or very imperfectly. So there is a need for the Superior to know what is the capacity of each of his subjects, how great or small is his moral strength, so that he can temper his commands so as not to run the risk of over-straining his subject’s feeble powers. But at the same time he has to use every effort to develop the virtue of his subjects and increase it daily, so that they will be able to stand hard trials and be strong enough to do great things and endure resolutely.

I think this will be enough to clarify my meaning. I hear that in my absence your Reverend Father General has moved on - I am very sorry that I was unable to pay him my respects. I hope that you and your brethren will be good enough to continue (as you promised) to pray for me to the Lord.

Your humble servant,

A. ROSMINI p.

My dear son in Christ,

You must follow with love the ray of light which the Lord has granted you: it will lead you out of the labyrinth of contrary thoughts. Courage, my dear brother - be generous with Jesus Christ. Whoever conquers will not be harmed by the second death - to everyone who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give a white stone, and on the white stone is written a new name that no one knows except the one who receives it. So overcome, or rather let Christ overcome in you: allow yourself to be overcome by him, giving yourself into his hands for ever, as a captive, a slave, a dead man. In this way you will escape from the anxieties that now weigh you down, and you will suddenly find yourself in a spacious place, and you will be made immovably firm in your vocation. This vocation needs to have faced and triumphed in confrontation with the devil and with human nature, in order to be made solid.

Tomorrow I will say Mass for you, and after that will remember you warmly in my prayers every day. You must put your trust in Jesus Christ and in the intercession of Mary; in lofty thoughts and magnanimous sentiments. This is what the Lord wants of you; these are the weapons of faith which no enemy can resist: rather he will flee from them in fear.

Your affectionate father in Christ,

A. ROSMINI p.

My dear brother in Christ,

Fr Provincial Pagani{f} sent on to me from Rome the letter you wrote to him on 23 September, and I was very pleased with the sentiments contained in it. Above all I approve of the reflection you make on the universality of charity. This is the badge and motto of Christ, of his disciples, of the Church - and so it is also that of the Institute of Charity. Our Constitutions tell us to follow in all things our holy Mother the Roman Church, even when it comes to external rites and ceremonies. And this is because the Church has from Christ the mission to regulate and decide the discipline of the whole Body of Christ. It could not be truly catholic and universal if it did not form a unity, with Rome as its centre. If it were a matter of deciding what are the most beautiful vestments, it could be maintained that gothic ones surpass all others in religious dignity. It would be a question of taste; and since tastes vary from one person to another, there can never be universal agreement over these things: vestments and rites would be different in the various churches of a country at one and the same time. If we followed this way of acting, we would finish up by introducing the vagaries of fashion into the Church of God. So the choice of vestments etc. must not be left to individual tastes, or decided on by anyone in general. It is a matter to be decided by the Church: the question of what kind of sacred vestments are to be approved for use can only be settled by her authority. Only in this way is it possible to establish uniformity of use as regards vestments and rites; and this uniformity is a sign of the unity of the Church of Jesus Christ. In saying these things to you I do not mean to command you to oppose forcefully the tendency there in the Midland District to favour the use of gothic vestments. I leave the matter to your prudence. If all our Superiors show themselves to be indifferent over these things, the matter will not amount to much. But I do urge you, as opportunity allows, to teach our brethren that (1) the charity of Christ is universal, and it excludes all self-assertion, especially the national variety; (2) the Catholic Church is as universal as charity ; (3) the universal Church is founded on the unity of the Roman See; (4) men, on the other hand, are always prone to restrict universality and break up unity; (5) our Institute, which takes its name from the charity of Christ, must oppose itself to this human tendency and foster the cause of universality and that of the unity of the Church by the universality of its charity. If these ideas are gently instilled into people’s minds, they will produce the desired fruit in due course.

May our Lord Jesus Christ fill you with his holy grace. Greet warmly for me all our dear brethren - and write to me. Goodbye.

Your affectionate brother in Christ,

A. R. p.

{fs}On 9 October 1844 Fr Pagani had been appointed Provost of the English Province.